Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford. The college is on the site of the earlier Brazenose hall. It is not known when Brasenose Hall became Brasenose College. The college uses the year 1509 as the date of its foundation as a college. That is the earliest written record of the college. A royal charter was issued for the "King's Hall and College at Brasenose" on 15 January 1512.[1]

The original Brasenose College doorknocker

The name of the college is believed to refer to an ornate brassdoorknocker in the shape of a nose, that was once on the door of its main hall. The name was in use at least as early as the 1330s. It is believed that the original doorknocker was removed by students in the 14th Century and taken to Stamford in Lincolnshire. In 1890, the college purchased a house in Stamford. The house had been referred to as "Brasenose" since the 17th Century. The house had a 12th-Century doorknocker, believed to be the doorknocker removed from the college. The college had the doorknocker returned to the college, and it now hangs in the college's main hall.[2]